Hair trimmer guide



p 1962 E. H. WALLS 3,055,376

HAIR TRIMMER GUIDE Filed April 26, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet. l

INVENTOR. EUGENE H. WALLS Sept. 25, 1962 E. H. WALLS 3,055,376

HAIR TRIMMER GUIDE Filed April 26, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 United States Patent ()fifice Patented Sept. 25, 1962 3,055,376 HAM TRIMMER GUIDE Eugene H. Walls, 1442 E. Hight St, Davenport, Iowa Filed Apr. 26, 1960, Ser. No. 24,839 3 Claims. (Cl. 132-45) This invention relates to a hair trimmer guide and more particularly to a hair trimmer guide which may be employed with an electric razor or shaver for trimming hair.

Numerous attempts have been made to provide guides for use with razors for trimming hair. Guides have been designed for use with either manually or electrically operated hair clippers of the type employed by barbers. These devices were designed primarily for use by laymen to enable them to perform hair trimming operations with out the need for professional training. However, certain drawbacks have been encountered, such as the necessity for employing hair clippers of a professional type, the difficulty in achieving the proper placement of the guide with respect to a persons head because of the particular configuration of the guide, the instability of the guide and the general difficulty in guiding the hair clipper or razor along the device. As a result of these difi'iculjties, persons employing such guide devices have found it practically impossible to trim either the hair on their head or on someone elses head with any proficiency.

A suitable guide is a desirable article for use in trimming a persons hair, especially along the neck line, around the ears and the sideburns. The use of such a device can greatly reduce the frequency of which one must engage the services of a professional barber by maintaining the hair trimmed in the aforementioned areas. This encourages neatness, promotes good grooming and results in a substantial economic saving to the user.

The hair trimmer guide of the present invention overcomes the deficiencies found in the prior guide devices. The construction of the guide of this invention makes it readily adaptable for use with any of the commercially available electric razors or shavers employed for shaving ones beard. This guide has a unique configuration which allows it to conform to the contour of any persons head, and it has a portion along which an electric razor may be moved to trim the hair to a proper taper without the danger of nicks and cuts. This hair guide may be employed by a layman to produce professional results without the requirement of any specialized skills.

In accordance with one arrangement of the present invention, the guide includes a pair of support members each having a guide ridge or rail thereon. The two support members are connected together either in a fixed relationship to accommodate a particular razor or in .an adjustable relationship to accommodate any electric razor. The lower portion or bottom of each of the support members has a curved configuration similar to that of a French curve and this configuration allows the guide to conform to the contour of a persons head. The guide is held against the persons head and the razor is moved along the support members while it is guided by the guide rails.

One feature of the present invention is the provision of a hair trimmer guide which may be used with an electric razor by an inexperienced person to trim his own or another persons hair in the vicinity of the neck and ears uniformly and of the proper taper.

Another feature of the present invention is in the provision of a hair trimming guide having a unique configuration which allows it to readily conform to the contour of a persons head to thereby provide stability and accuracy of trimming.

Another feature of the present invention is the provision of a guide device for use with a razor to trim hair in which the guide device has a pair of unique rails which maintain the razor in the proper position to eliminate the possibility of nicking or cutting the skin.

A further feature of the present invention resides in the provision of an inexpensive hair trimmer guide which is adaptable for use with any one of a number of commercially available razors.

These and other features of this invention may be more fully appreciated when considered with the following specification .and drawings in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a hair trimmer guide constructed in accordance with the principles of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the guide device illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the lines 33 in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the lines 4--4 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 shows an alternative construction for a hair trimmer guide; and

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along the lines 6-6 of FIG. 5.

FIG. 1 illustrates a guide 12 constructed in accordance with the principles of the present invention. The guide 12 is positioned adjacent to the head ll of a person whose hair is to be cut. An electric razor 14 is shown positioned against the guide 12, and the razor 14 is moved along the guide 12 to trim the persons hair.

FIG. 2 illustrates the guide 12 of FIG. 1 in greater detail. A bar 16 is mounted within one end of a support member 18. A sleeve 20 is mounted within the corresponding end of another support member 22. The bar 16 has a plurality of holes 24 therein and the sleeve 24) has a hole 26 therein. The bar 16 and the sleeve 20 are proportioned so that the bar may slide within the sleeve in order to align one of the holes 24 with the hole 26. A split pin 28 is inserted through the hole 26 and one of the holes 24 to maintain the support members is and 22 substantially parallel and nonrotatable with respect to each other. The .arrangement of the pin 28 may be seen more clearly in FIG. 3 which is a sectional view taken along the lines 33 of FIG. 2.

The support members 18 and 22 are provided With flat surfaces 30 and 32, respectively, upon which the electric razor 14 is moved. The support members 18 and 22 further include rails 34 and 36 which serve to guide the razor 14. These rails 34 and 36 may be more clearly seen in FIG. 3, and in FIG. 4 which is a sectional view taken along the lines 4-4 of FIG. 2.

According to a feature of this invention, the lower portions, or bottoms of the support members 18 and 22 are each provided with a configuration which allows the guide to conform readily to a variety of shapes of heads. This configuration which is similar to a French curve is illustrated in FIG. 3. The lower surface 40 of the support device 22 is formed with the configuration substantially as illustrated in FIG. 3. This particular curvature may be used or a similar curvature may be used which may be derived through experimentation; i.e., the curvature of the heads of a number of people may be plotted to obtain a mean or average configuration. This may be accomplished by the usual method of plotting a plurality of points corresponding tothe curvature of these heads or by employing a flexible template device, such as an adjustable curve or a flexible curve rule. It should be apparent to those skilled in the art that by providing such a configuration on the bottom of the support members l8 and 22 the guide device 12 will conform readily to the contour of various head shapes and will enable a uniform trim of the proper taper to be achieved.

Although only the curvature of the support member 22 is illustrated in detail, it is to be understood that the support member 18 has a similar curvature. The guide 12 may be manufactured in different sizes or with different curvatures to conform to the different basic head shapes if desired.

According to another feature of the present invention, the guide 12 is adjustable so that it may be employed with razors of different dimensions. The support members 18 and 22 are positioned relative to one another to enable a desired razor to be moved freely along the support surfaces 30 and 32 and between the rails 34 and 36. This is accomplished by moving the support members 18 and 22 to a position relative to one another and then inserting the split pin 28 or a similar holding device through the hole 26 and one of the holes 24 to maintain the support members in the desired position as is illustrated in FIG. 2. In this manner the support members 18 and 22 can be held substantially parallel to one another and the surfaces 30 and 32 can be maintained in a single plane.

According to a further feature of the present invention, the guide rails 34 and 36 are positioned along the support members 18 and 22 as illustrated in FIG. 2 to guide the razor in the proper direction and to prevent the razor from sliding off of the side of the guide device and thereby causing nicks and cuts to the persons skin. These guide rails 34 and 36 may be made integral with the support members 18 and 22, respectively, or they may be fabricated separately from the support members and subsequently affixed thereto.

In using the guide 12 of the present invention it is first adjusted for a particular razor as explained above. The guide 12 is then placed in a desired position adjacent a persons head as illustrated in FIG. 1. The razor 14 is then placed with its head or cutting area adjacent the surfaces 30 and 32 of the respective support members 18 and 22 and moved along the guide to trim the persons hair. In this manner the guide may be placed in the vicinity of the neckline, the ears and the sideburns to trim the hair in these areas. These operations may be accomplished easily by a person while trimming his own hair because of the unique construction and the manner in which the guide 12 conforms to the contour of the head. The configuration of the guide 12 not only allows it to fit the head properly, but also spaces the razor from the head to enable the proper taper of trim to be obtained.

FIG. illustrates another adjustable hair trimmer guide constructed in accordance with the principles of the present invention. In this particular construction the support members 50 and 52 are essentially identical to the support members 18 and 22 illustrated in FIG. 2. A sleeve 54 is mounted Within one end of the support member 50 and a sleeve 56 is mounted within the corresponding end of the support member 52. An adjustable bar 58 which has a plurality of recesses or notches 60 is employed to interconnect the two support members 50 and 52 in an adjustable relationship. Two small locking balls 62 and 64 are provided to cooperate with recesses in the sleeves 54 and 56 and with the recesses 60 to lock the bar 58 and the support members 50 and 52 in one of a number of fixed positions. The balls 62 and 64 may be mounted so that they engage the recesses 60 while allowing for relative adjustment of the support members 50 and 52.

The arrangement of the ball 64, the sleeve 56 and the bar 58 is illustrated in FIG. 6 which is a sectional view taken along the lines 6-6 of FIG. 5. The corresponding elements of the support member 50 are essentially identical. The balls 62 and 64, for example, may be spring mounted or biased within recesses provided in the respective sleeves 54 and 56 in a manner well known to those skilled in the art. With this arrangement, as with the arrangement illustrated in FIG. 2, the support members 50 and 52 may be adjusted to accommodate any size razor while maintaining the support members substantially parallel and while maintaining the fiat support surfaces 66 and 68 substantially in a single plane.

The support members of the guide device of the present invention may be formed from any suitable material. For example, these members may be molded or formed from rubber or a pliable plastic. The sleeve members, bar members and locking balls may be formed from any desirable material such as aluminum. Hence, it should be apparent that the guide device may be manufactured inexpensively. However, it is to be understood that other materials which will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art may be employed from which the above elements may be fabricated.

The guide device 12 of the present invention may be manufactured as a single unit for use with razors which have a specific head width. In this case, the adjustable bar and sleeve construction need not be used, but they may be replaced with a single bar of a specific length having its ends affixed to the support members. Alternatively, the entire guide device may be formed from a single piece of material or it may be molded as a single unit.

As should now be apparent the present invention provides a novel hair trimmer guide for use with electric razors. The portion of the guide device which is positioned adjacent the head has a curvature which allows the guide device to conform readily to various head configurations and provide the proper taper of trim for the hair. The guide device also includes a pair of surfaces upon which the head of the razor may be moved and a pair of rails to guide the razor during the movement thereof. This guide device may be used with an electric razor by inexperienced persons to provide a neat and uniform trim of the proper taper of his own or another persons hair without the danger of nicks and cuts.

While the invention has been described in particular embodiments, it will be recognized that variations and changes may be made therein without departing from the invention as set forth in the claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A hair trimmer guide for use with an electric razor comprising a pair of support members having curved bottoms shaped to conform to a human head, each of said support members having a support surface upon which said razor may be moved and a rail member integral with and raised above said support surface to facilitate guiding said razor, and adjustable spacing means connecting said support members to maintain said support members in substantially parallel relationship and spaced in accordance with the width of said razor.

2. A guide device for use in combination with an electric razor for trimming hair on the human head comprising a pair of support members each of which has a curved bottom, each of said members including a planar support surface upon which said razor may be moved and a rail member integral with and raised above said planar support surface to facilitate guiding said razor, a sleeve member affixed to one of said pair of support members substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis thereof, a bar member affixed to the other of said pair of support members substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis thereof and arranged to engage said sleeve member in telescoping relationship, and a pin member for engaging said sleeve member and said bar member to hold said support members substantially parallel with said planar support surfaces substantially in a single plane, whereby the curved bottom of said support members may be placed adjacent the head and conform thereto and the planar support surfaces provide a substantially flat surface on which said razor may be moved and guided by said rail members to trim hair from the head.

3. A guide device for use in combination with an electric razor for trimming hair on the human head com- 5 prising a pair of support members each of which has a curved bottom, each of said members including a planar support surface upon which said razor may be moved and a rail member integral with and raised above said planar support surface to facilitate guiding said razor, a bar member connecting said support members, said bar member having a plurality of recesses spaced throughout its length, means mounted in said support members for engaging the recesses in said bar to lock said support members in substantially parallel spaced relationship, whereby the curved bottom of said support members may References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,670,744 Levin Mar. 2, 1954 FOREIGN PATENTS 262,746 Great Britain June 6, 1927 

